The present invention relates to finger oximeters and more particularly to a finger oximeter with remote telecommunications capabilities and a system for monitoring the signals from such finger oximeter.
In co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/940,418, assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, a finger oximeter with a unique finger grip suspension system is disclosed. The disclosed finger oximeter is a standalone device. The finger oximeter of the instant invention improves on the standalone finger oximeter of the co-pending application by providing it with telecommunications capabilities that enable it to transmit data acquired from a patient to a remote device, such as a monitor device, that allows remote monitoring of a patient.
In addition to the oximetry circuitry that controls the operation of the radiation emitter that outputs a multi-frequency light to the finger and the sensor for sensing the radiation passing the finger for obtaining data from the patient and then calculating the oxygen saturation level of blood from the acquired data, the present invention oximeter further includes a transmission circuit that may be a radio frequency RF circuit that works in cooperation with the finger oximetry circuit so that a signal such as for example a RF signal that contains the calculated oxygen saturation level of blood of the patient may be transmitted to a remote device. The RF circuit is provided on a PC circuit board that is mounted to the housing of the finger oximeter, along with a circuit board to which the finger oximetry circuit and other circuits such as the power circuit and processor circuit are mounted. Instead of separate printed circuit boards, a single circuit board that contains all of the circuitries of the RF transmitter equipped oximeter of the instant invention may be mounted completely within the housing of the finger oximeter.
The present invention finger oximeter therefore includes a housing having an opening through which a finger of a patient may be placed, a radiation emitter provided in the housing for outputting a multifrequency radiation to the finger, a sensor provided in the housing for detecting the radiation from the emitter that passes though, or reflects from, the finger of the patient so that data relating to the physical attributes of the patient may be acquired, at least one circuit provided in the housing for operating the radiation emitter and the sensor, and to calculate from the data acquired at least the oxygen saturation level of blood of the patient, and another circuit provided in the housing that transmits as a RF signal the calculated oxygen saturation of blood of the patient to a remote site.
The instant invention also relates to the system in which the RF signal transmitted by the finger oximeter is received by a remote device, such as for example the Vital Signs Monitor being sold by the assignee which has incorporated therein a RF receiver attuned to receive the RF signal transmitted from the finger oximeter. The remote device may be equipped with a transceiver that allows the observer at the remote monitor device to control the operation of the finger oximeter. This is done by the observer at the remote monitoring system activating a switch that sends out a signal that can activate/deactivate the remote finger oximeter.
The RF signal sent by the finger oximeter may be sent in the form of data packets. A depacking component which may include a processing circuit and a converter circuit is provided at the remote monitor device for unpacking the data packets and converting the unpacked data from digital to analog so that the physical attributes of the patient being monitored may be shown on the display of the monitor device. The transmission of the RF signal, and the control of the finger oximeter by the remote monitor device, may be effected by a telecommunications protocol such as for example Bluetooth.